Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Anti-Schremp crowd likes pointing at his craptacular numbers since his return from Edmonton. Quite frankly, said player must feel jaded by the team, they told him what to work on, he did it, they told him to stay up he had to create more than he gave up. Well guess what? He was faster, stronger, grittier, better defensively, and for the first time in his VERY small NHL career, he translated his offense to the NHL.

And oh yeah, he created more than he gave up. Enter Robert Nilsson, last season Craig MacTavish had him sent down because he wasn't living up to his "expectations". Nilsson had 2 very good games and then went MIA, he was a HS at the AHL level. Schremp is probably on the verge of that same punishment. It is my opinion that he flat out doesn't give a crap anymore.

He's played 3 years in the AHL, he knows where he stacks up among his peers. He sees lesser players get better opportunities than he does, after likely beating himself up over what he has to do to be an Oiler, he is probably looking to get as far away from Edmonton as humanly possible.

My point is that if Nilsson can pout and then be rewarded, it would be wrong to treat Schremp differently. It's time to throw the freaking kid a bone or get rid of him as soon as possible. The fact that Liam Reddox and Gilbert Brule are getting longer looks than Schremp has while producing far less is enough to make you question the method to the madness.

Schremp has been broken of the player that he was when he was drafted, he has been morphed into a completely different player, yet he's still not welcome on the team. They knew what they were getting when they drafted him, they've asked him to change and he has. Why even draft and develop a player if you're not willing to see the development through?

Ryan Potulny deserves a chance even though he is an inferior player and Guillaume Lefebvre would be a logical choice to replace Stortini. But for crying out loud, give the kid a chance and for once treat players equally and give them ALL the same chance.